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Topic Review (Newest First)

02-06-2008 08:57 PM

billyruffn

I've also had a good experience with Port Townsend Rigging. Really nice, very competent people that do go the extra mile for you. I highly recommend them -- in fact, everyone I dealt with when we wintered over in PT was both highly professional and very friendly. I guess that's because they're all sailors when not working their day jobs.

02-06-2008 07:04 PM

vega1860

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnRPollard

Vega,

Great story. Thanks for sharing and I look forward to hearing more.

A question regarding the problem with your rigging: Your account suggests that you had recently re-rigged your boat prior to setting out. After arrival, Brian Toss apparently inspected the wire and found it "defective". Could you tell us the source, type, etc of the wire and in what way Brian felt it was defective?

I find it disturbing that any new S.S. wire could experience these problems.

We had re-rigged the boat diring our last major re-fit in 1998 so the wire was nine years old at the time of our departure. At the time, the rigger at Ala Wai Marine made a point of showing me the new spool of 316 stainless wire to assure me that I was getting what I was paying (A lot) for. Unfortunately, I did not note the manufacturer in my log.

To clarify: Brion Toss was in Hawaii with his entire crew rigging the schooner "Sugartime" when we arrived in Port Townsend. We first went to Dan and Lisa at Port Townsend rigging. Not because I wanted to have them re-rig the boat, but because I wanted to know the cause of the failure. After I took the mast down, Dan looked at the wire with me. We found broken strands at six points along the headstay and five points along the upper backstay. Later, when his crew returned from Hawaii, one of Brion's riggers asked us for a sample of the wire so I gave him the headstay to take back to their shop where the whole crew examined it very carefully. I am told that as a result, Brion Toss Riggers have changed their procedures and now examine new wire before using it. I gave the backstay to Port Townsend rigging as they requested for the same reasons. Both rigging shops told me that it was a bad run of wire and that the failure could not have been foreseen without close examination, under a microscope, of the wire. They also told me that so-called domestic wire rope is made from imported wire strands and that it matters not who the supplier is.

I bought new wire from PT Rigging and assembled the shrouds and stays with the same Sta-Lok fittings, toggles and turnbuckles I had used in 1998 after cleaning and polishing and examining with a magnifying glass. After I had the mast back up, the PT Rigging crew came and checked the tensioning as a courtesy.

Brion Toss is of course the more well known, having written several books on rigging. But Brion's crew was out of town and, we were hauled out a the PT Boat Haven yard. PT Rigging is right there and Toss' shop is on the other end of town. Dan and Lisa at PT Rigging went out of their way to help us even though I merely bought the wire and wedges from them and did all the work myself.

I find I am now allowed to post links so here is a link to our cruising page. I'm still adding to it but there is plenty there already.

Malie ke kai

02-06-2008 06:34 PM

Stillraining

Thanks Vega

That was a good start....type away...

I will read the other site before asking questions

02-06-2008 06:20 PM

JohnRPollard

Quote:

Originally Posted by vega1860

then to Port Townsend where I took the mast down and examined the wire. I discovered the strands broken at six points on the headstay and five points in the backstay. The riggers at PT Rigging and Brion Toss told us that the wire we had rigged the boat with in Honolulu was defective.

Vega,

Great story. Thanks for sharing and I look forward to hearing more.

A question regarding the problem with your rigging: Your account suggests that you had recently re-rigged your boat prior to setting out. After arrival, Brian Toss apparently inspected the wire and found it "defective". Could you tell us the source, type, etc of the wire and in what way Brian felt it was defective?

I find it disturbing that any new S.S. wire could experience these problems.

02-06-2008 01:38 PM

vega1860

If you found Chuck and Laura's Cruising Pages on the American Vega Assn. website, you found a lot of information about the trip and the aftermath. Since I'm retired now, I'll be putting a lot more on that site and possibly starting another. After all, there is more to the AVA than Chuck and Laura.

Like a lot of people, I suspect, on this forum, we dreamed about crossing the Pacific for twenty years or more. Gradually we turned that dream into reality and in the process we learned a tremendous amount about our boat, our selves, each other and what really matters in life. By sharing the mistakes we made, the solutions we found and the things we think we did right I hope to smooth the path for those who follow, encourage those who dream of one day sailing into the sunset and entertain those who have already been there.

The First Mate has a full time job ashore and I have a wireless internet connection on the boat so I'll be a frequent visitor here until we cast off to head South.

Malie ke kai,

02-06-2008 12:30 PM

RAGNAR

Awesome. Thanks for sharing.

02-06-2008 12:05 PM

kwaltersmi

Very cool, thanks for sharing. I'm a big Vega fan (and fan of most small bluewater cruisers).